


Finding You (Will Never Be Hard)

by secondalto



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Awkwardness, First Kiss, M/M, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-11
Updated: 2014-11-11
Packaged: 2018-02-25 00:00:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2601170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secondalto/pseuds/secondalto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve is found by Bucky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finding You (Will Never Be Hard)

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little something based on [this](http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/19994.html?thread=47373850#t47373850) prompt and the image of Steve walking through Arlington on Veteran’s Day.
> 
> Unbetaed, all mistakes my own.
> 
> Dedicated to all Veterans

Steve pulls at the collar of his jacket, hunching his shoulders against the light, but biting wind. The flags in the ground flutter, reminding Steve of what day it is: Veteran’s Day. There are a few families here, but mostly he’s alone. He’s not had the chance to come here since he first relocated to D.C. He came then and shortly after the Chitauri, but not since.

He doesn’t head right for his destination. He wanders, slowly taking in names and dates of countless soldiers who gave their lives. Steve watches the changing of the guard at the tomb of the Unknowns, pulling his ball cap lower as tourists film and photograph the solemn ceremony. He detours to other graves, thinking about the Commandos. He’s gone to pay his respects to each of them, even flying out on Tony’s dime for Dernier and Falsworth. He knows, when the time comes, he’ll do the same for Peggy.

He climbs the hill that leads to his final stop. Steve stops halfway, heart aching as he approached the grave he’s always known was empty. It takes everything he had not to collapse in front of Bucky’s headstone and let it all go; to weep for the boy he’d met at twelve, the man he’d loved at twenty. Instead, he puts a hand on the stone, and makes a promise that he will never stop looking for his friend. Steve puts one foot in front of the other as he finishes the trek to his destination, his own grave.

He’s heard the stories, read the books and articles, and seen the internet postings. This used to be a place of pilgrimage; for the Commandos, for fans and even for Phil Coulson. Once Steve came out of the ice, though, it stopped. No need to celebrate the memory of a man who wasn’t dead. So Steve came that first time, mostly out of curiosity, but it gave him peace and time to think. He’d talked to Bucky then, telling the friend he thought he’d lost all about this new time and place. That’s why he’s here now, to think, to rest and plan how he’s going to get Bucky back.

Steve is usually not this bad at observational skills, especially given that not too long ago he was a wanted man. But his mind is on Bucky, his eyes on his own feet as he crests the hill. So when he lifts his head to finally look at his marker, he gasps. Bucky is standing there, hunched into his own jacket against the wind, hands stuffed into pockets and cap pulled low over his eyes. Bucky’s hair is up in a ponytail, bits of it loose and whipping around his face. His face is covered by a full beard now. Steve sees the flowers laid there, fresh and a bright splash of color against the pale stone. There are so many things he wants to say, but the words are stuck in his throat.

Bucky had to have heard him coming, because he looks up, the ghost of a smile playing along his lips. “It was the only place I could be sure I’d find you eventually.”

Steve relaxes a little. “You remember?” he ventures.

“Some,” Bucky shrugs. “Not sure I want it all back. Did some bad things, Steve.”

“It wasn’t you, Buck,” Steve asserts, stepping in closer. “You gotta know that.”

“Lots to work through yet, pal, but ‘m tired. Don’t wanna run no more.”

Steve really looks at Bucky now, seeing the bags under his eyes, the fatigue written on his body. “Come home with me,” he blurts out. “I’ve got a place in… in Tony’s tower. My team… we can help.”

Bucky snorts and it’s a sound that warms Steve despite the chill. “The buncha punks you fought aliens with?”

Steve’s eyes go wide.

“I know how to use the internet, Stevie,” he says. “Guess I left some of the stupid in Brooklyn with you.”

Steve chuckles at the memory. His Bucky, the one he’s missed so fucking much the last two years, is still in there somewhere. Neither of them is going to be whom they were before, but Steve’s okay with that. If the future means having James Barnes in his live again, he’ll take it any way he can.

“They’d take you in, help with everything,” Steve offers. “Even get your own room, if you want.”

“You got one?” Steve nods. “Mind if I bunk with you then? I’ve got…,” he shakes his head. “Might need help gettin’ to and stayin’ asleep, like you used to.”

“Sure,” Steve says. “Anything, Buck. Anything I can do to help you, I will.”

“Anything?” Bucky repeats. Steve nods again. “I gotta know,” Bucky mutters before pulling his hands out of his pockets, stepping into Steve’s personal space and framing Steve’s face with cold hands as he kisses Steve. It’s supposed to be a short and chaste affair, but once Steve realizes what’s going on, he pulls Bucky in, kissing him back. They bump noses and clash their teeth at first. After a few tries, they get it right, clutching at each other as they kiss. Bucky’s the one to finally pull back, but Steve’s the first to say something.

“Why?”

Bucky rubs a hand across the back of his neck. “I kept havin’ these memories… of you lookin’ at me and I… Oh God. Were we not…?”

Steve smiles wryly. “We weren’t, but I wanted us to be.”

Bucky’s ears tinge pink. “Guess I did too.” Then he links his metal hand with Steve’s, their fingers tangling together. “So, why don’t we start now? You can take me to lunch, and none of this fast food crap. I’m an expensive date.”

Steve can’t help the laugh that bursts from his chest. He feels lighter and happier than he’s been since he woke up. “Sure thing, Buck. Anything for my fella.”

Bucky squeezes his hand and they walk away from his grave; away from the past and into a promising future.


End file.
